[daveloyall]

OK. I won't take that bet, because you're probably right. :)

I'd still like a more general solution to determining the authenticity of statements on the internet.

In practice, people use Twitter for that. Seems weak. But, I don't use twitter, so I'm disregarding the community trust aspect that you described. Maybe it deserves more respect that I'm giving it, but we do have PKI available...